By 
By Uwa Suleiman
In an unprecedented move in the history of the country, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, this Wednesday, 29th April 2020, virtually commissioned the NITDA Training and Research Academy. This is in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive, to empower citizens with Digital Skills in the race to digitalise the nation’s economy. This move, amid the global health crisis COVID19, ensures that Nigeria and Nigerians are abreast of latest skills in emerging technologies.
In his keynote address, Dr Pantami encouraged civil servants, students and indeed all Nigerians nationwide, to key into the opportunity to acquire and develop digital skills as the current lockdown affords us time to seek, explore and improve on digital literacy. “We have leveraged on existing technologies in line with our mandate, to provide the requisite training needed to put Nigeria on a globally competitive pedestal in spite of the pandemic to ensure that Nigerians are ready for a post covid19 digital era”
The virtual event which held on the Microsoft Teams Platform, is streamlined to meet the requirements of all categories of trainees. This laudable project is being executed by the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy and NITDA in collaboration with Microsoft, Huawei Technologies, Oracle and Cisco. It will be recalled that the NITDA Training and Research Academy project, was initiated and conceptualized by the minister during his tenure as the Director General of the NITDA.
The virtual event was attended by over 200 participants.
Uwa Suleiman is spokesperson for the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy
